Time to solve childhood obesity

The ‘Time to solve childhood obesity’, an independent special report by former Chief Medical Officer (CMO) Professor Dame Sally Davies was published on 10 October 2019. This report is aimed at politicians and policy makers, now and in the future to support our children to be healthy. The Government ambition is to halve childhood obesity by 2030 – in England, we’re nowhere near achieving this.

As a society, we know that: our children have a right to live in a healthy environment. Being overweight or obese in childhood has profound impacts on the health and life chances of children. In the last year of primary school, on average, six children out of a class of thirty are obese and a further four are overweight, twice as many as thirty years ago. Obesity disproportionately affects children living in deprived areas and some ethnic minority groups. Children spend a lot of time in schools and nurseries and research has shown that levels of obesity double in the seven years between children entering primary school and leaving primary school. While some nurseries and schools create a healthy environment, others struggle to create the opportunities for children to eat a healthy meal.

Waltham Forest Catering acknowledges that being part of the food industry we can play a key role in creating healthy food options for our children. We look for opportunities where we can improve children’s health and adhere to food and drink standards. Life choices are constantly changing making it harder for our children to be healthy. Together we can work together and implement positive opportunities. As the report has identified ‘although there is no magic bullet so many actions, each with a small impact, will be necessary to reverse the rise in obesity’.